Tax Fairness
Ensuring everyone pays their fair share
Working families and small businesses have been paying their fair share of taxes for years. Meanwhile, corporations and the wealthiest few have found loopholes to avoid paying their fair share, which hurts our communities.
Scroll down to learn more about how corporations are skirting their responsibilities, and what can be done to hold them accountable.
State of Maine
COVID-19 response
​– Big corporations often hide profits through the use of off-shore accounts, utilizing these tax havens to avoid paying their fair share of taxes here in Maine. This leaves families, small businesses and our communities to pick up the tab. The loss of this revenue from big corporations can lead to cuts to essential services, communities and families will feel the impacts most directly
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Information on closing corporate tax loopholes:
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– Large retailers use a tactic called “dark store theory” to get out of paying property taxes. The “dark store theory” is where commercial property owners challenge their tax assessment by using vacant stores or properties as comparable values; arguing that their value should be aligned with properties that are not in use. This has led to millions of dollars less in property taxes for Maine’s municipalities.
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Information on the dark store theory:
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– During Gov. LePage’s tenure, the threshold for the estate tax was raised to $5.6 million for individuals and $11.2 million for married couples. Meanwhile, working Mainers endured an 18 percent increase in their property taxes. LePage also made significant income tax cuts, favoring the wealthiest Mainers and putting a significantly higher tax burden on working families.
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Information on the LePage estate tax cuts:
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– Maine has an affordable housing crisis, and skyrocketing property taxes plays a part. The regressive nature of property taxes means that two people in the same jurisdiction will pay the same amount in property tax, regardless of the income of the homeowner(s). With many people losing income as a result of the pandemic’s economic effects, hardworking Mainers are at risk of being driven out of their homes by these regressive taxes, and there is a very real possibility that they won’t be able to find another place to live. The 130th Legislature passed pieces of legislation that will help Mainers stay in their homes.
Information on property tax relief:
Maine's Income Tax Brackets
In Maine, a nurse who makes $55,000 a year working in the emergency room of a hospital pays the same percentage in income tax per year as the CEO of that same hospital.
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This is thanks to Gov. LePage’s elimination of the higher income tax brackets, which has put a higher tax burden on our working families.
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Here are Maine's current income tax brackets:
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